US judge orders new searches for Clinton's Benghazi emails

Washington, Aug 11 (IANS) An Indian-born federal judge in the US has ordered the State Department to search more emails which Hillary Clinton sent or received about 2012 Benghazi attack.

Federal Judge Amit Mehta, nominated by former President Barack Obama, has ruled that the State Department should search the state.gov emails as well, xinhua reported on Thursday.

The order came after conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch (JW) filed a new lawsuit for related Benghazi emails.

“BREAKING: JW wins big court ruling that may finally result in truth about Benghazi and Clinton’s involvement in it,” the group tweeted on Thursday.

The State Department argued that a search of the state.gov emails is unlikely to turn up anything additional, but the group argued that the State Department’s search of her emails wasn’t good enough, saying only external sources were searched.

“This matter is a far cry from a typical Freedom of Information Act case. Secretary Clinton used a private email server, located in her home, to transmit and receive work-related communications during her tenure as secretary of state,” Mehta said.

The judge signed the order on Tuesday requiring a status report by September 22.

The 2012 Benghazi attack refers to an attack against two US government facilities in Benghazi, Libya by members of the militant group Ansar al-Sharia.

Clinton’s emails were a key subject of controversy during her 2016 presidential campaign after it was revealed that she used a private email server during her stay at the State Department.